


We're Brothers

by orphan_account



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Family Feels, Growing Up, skelepreg, skelepreg is not the focus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-21
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-06-03 13:24:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6612292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Papyrus was raised as Sans's brother. He isn't.</p><p>(based off the idea that sans is papyrus's mom (yes mom (yes i do regret everything how'd you know)))</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Daycare

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [untitled](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/211846) by anonymous. 



> i also submitted this anonymously to skelly [here](http://skelepreg.tumblr.com/post/143116114227/were-brothers). note that skelly's the one who came up with the title (give credit where credit's due ya know)
> 
> tbh the only reason i decided to post this on here was because i made a pseud for sin. i'll probably just post skelepreg to this one because that's as kinky as i get.
> 
> i suggest you read the fic this was inspired by because this is pretty much a sequel but you can go without if you really want to

When Papyrus was very young, he tried to call Sans “mom.”

It wasn’t his idea. He was about three-years-old and attending daycare for the first time, and it was kind of scary because he’d never really been around other kids his age and he’d never been away from Sans for too long before then, either. He remembers that he cried and clung to Sans and it took ages of new friends and fun and promising to come back for him to let go.

Papyrus ended up forgetting about him quickly enough. The other kids warmed up to him pretty fast and they all played games together and he knew at the end of the day he’d be back home, so there was no need to worry.

Eventually games led to talking and talking led to everyone talking about their family. Papyrus was mostly silent by that point.

“Hey, Papy,” one of the rabbit children asked, “what about you? What’s your mommy like?”

Papyrus shrugged awkwardly. “I don’t got a mommy.”

“That’s weird,” another kid said. “I have two.”

“Not everyone’s got a mommy, Toby!” yelled the rabbit kid’s sister. “Some people only have daddies!”

“My gramma takes care of me.”

“I only have a daddy.”

“My daddy died when I was born.”

“That’s what happened to my mommy!”

Everybody burst into chatter again and Papyrus stopped talking. At least until conversation turned back to him.

“So if you don’t have a mommy, and you don’t have a daddy-“ Papyrus isn’t quite sure when they established that, “-and if you don’t have a gramma or grampa, then who takes care of you?”

“Sans does,” Papyrus said.

“Is Sans your mommy then?” they asked.

He shrugged. Sans was Sans. Before that day he’d never heard of mommies or daddies.

“Well, what does Sans do?”

Papyrus shrugged again. From what he’d heard, pretty much the same thing all other parents did, he thought.

“So, then Sans must be your mommy!” they exclaimed excitedly, clapping their hands.

 _“Well,”_ one of the kids who only had dads started, “since my daddy does all the things mommies do, why can’t Sans be his daddy instead?”

That was wrong. Sans couldn’t be his dad. Papyrus… doesn’t remember why, but there was a reason, once upon a time. Someone else, maybe, even though his memories only ever had the two of them.

After that, they all seemed to agree that Sans was Papyrus’s mom, and encouraged him to start calling him that.

A five-year-old said, “You didn’t know what a mommy was before, right? You can show him that you learned a new word! And that you figured it all out by yourself.”

That was incentive enough. Papyrus loved showing Sans things he’d learned and puzzles he’d solve because Sans would always smile and hug him and say “good job kiddo” or “i’m proud of you” and that would make him feel happy for the rest of the day.

So at the end of the day, when Sans came back from wherever he went and they hugged and started walking back home, Papyrus talked about all the friends he made and how much fun he had.

“And it was so great! I wish you were there, mommy, it was-“

“wait,” he said, and Papyrus felt him stop and the hand holding his tighten, “what did you just say?”

“Um,” Papyrus was suddenly nervous, “I wish you were there?”

“heh, yeah,” Sans said, and Papyrus felt better, “i wish i was there too, kiddo, but, uh, i was actually wondering what you… called me?”

“I said mommy.” He began to feel nervous again, wondering if it was okay to call him that. The other kids talked about their parents and their dads and moms and he didn’t have a problem with saying Sans but there was something with the other kids when they were saying _“well, my mommy does this”_ and _“ my mommy does that”_ and he wanted that, too.

Plus, when he told them about Sans, they all said that that was what a mommy (and daddy, a couple kids grumbled) does. So it shouldn’t have been wrong to switch around titles a bit.

“Um.” Papyrus looked down and began to fidget. He wished they were still walking. It would’ve been something to do. “Can I… not call you that?”

Sans didn’t answer immediately. Papyrus couldn’t see the look on his face, but he imagined that it might have been angry (though he doesn’t think he’d ever seen Sans truly angry) and he didn’t want to see it do he didn’t look.

“i’m. not your mom,” he replied quietly.

“Oh.” Papyrus didn’t know what to think. “So... what are you, then?” Was Sans really his dad, then? Maybe a “gramma,” though he got the impression that only old people could be grammas, and Sans wasn’t old.

“i’m. well, we’re, uh.” Sans was having difficulty saying something. Papyrus couldn’t understand why.

“we’re… brothers, paps.”

“Oh.”

Papyrus didn’t really know what a brother was. Some of the other kids mentioned sibling, he thought, but not in great detail because everyone was much more focused on who was raising them.

But he guessed that calling Sans “Brother” wouldn’t be so bad.


	2. School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They move, and Papyrus has to go to a new school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fyi this fic probably isn't gonna be that long maybe like 5-7 chapters idk (btw i can't believe there are so many sinners here the amount of private bookmarks is astounding)
> 
>  ** _also:_** you might wanna read the comments for the first chapter, because i answered someone's innocent query with a long explanation of background for this universe, along with some insight to sans's thoughts because unless i write the exact same story from his pov it ain't ever gonna get in here. (i am starting to want to write this from his pov tho *sweats*)

Their new apartment had two bedrooms, a decently sized kitchen, room enough for a dining table and living room and one bathroom with a bath/shower combo. It was larger than where they lived before but Papyrus still didn't like it because it was strange and his friends lived far away and it wasn't home.

Sans said that he'll get used to it. Papyrus grudgingly agreed, but he still didn't like how he had to start second grade at an entirely different school. The only upside is the opportunity to meet new people and impress them into becoming friends.

That... didn't quite work out.

When he was the first one to raise his hand to answer questions he was a  _"teacher's pet,"_ when he excitedly showed off the jigsaw puzzle he finally completed he was a  _"nerd,"_ when he talked about his cool older brother who worked as a scientist he was  _"a loser with no parents."_

Papyrus didn't understand. His other friends said that he was smart, and liked doing puzzles with him, and he wasn't the only one who didn't have parents either.

But what these new kids did do was make him wonder.

He’d never thought much about his parents before. Sans was enough, he never felt like he was missing anything, so he never bothered to think about what other family they might have.

His curiosity builds up with every taunt and scathing comment, making him ask himself, “ _What makes their family so different? What am I missing? What does Sans not have that parents do?”_

One day, Papyrus comes home. Sans asks, “so how was school?”

Papyrus grinned and excitedly answered, “It was great!” He then proceeded to detail how he got an A on the math test—didn’t mention the usual volley of _nerd_ —redrew the four square area with chalk at recess—didn’t mention that they pushed him away and used it for themselves and made him play alone—and that in science class they looked at pictures of stars that were taken on the surface and washed down the garbage.

That had been the best part of the day, because everyone was too in awe of the pictures to talk to each other (and not Papyrus).

Sans listened contently, lazing on the couch as he always did. Sometimes Papyrus questioned if his brother actually had a job or if they got their money through other mysterious means.

Like, maybe, other family.

He stopped talking. Sans noticed.

“hey, what’s up paps? dog got your jaw?”

Papyrus thought a bit, and came to a decision.

“Sans, do we, uh, have parents? Or… any other family?”

His brother stayed silent. His expression did not change. Papyrus fidgeted.

Eventually, Sans said something. “that, uh, depends on what you mean.”

He stopped fidgeting and looked confused. “What do you mean?”

Sans took a moment to gather his thoughts. “we have other family, but they weren’t very… good people.”

Papyrus looked to the ground and most definitely not at Sans. “So... um... we _do_ have parents?”

“…they aren’t your parents,” Sans said. “they might have been my parents, but they didn’t do a very good job, so i… made sure that they weren’t your parents too.

Papyrus thought that he might know what Sans is talking about. Most monsters are made from love and compassion, but there are also those who are only made from LOVE. A few of his old friends lived in an orphanage or foster home and some of them even told him why.

He guessed he could understand his brother’s motivation for wanting to leave, if that were the case.

"Okay," he said. Sans seemed a bit surprised, which was a first.

"okay?" he asked. "that's it? because..." He suddenly looked nervous. This was a day for multiple expressions, it seemed.

"because, if you  _really_ want, i'm willing to... take you. to meet them. someday."

Papyrus thought about this for a second, then shook his head. "No. I think I'm fine. And," he beamed, "I have you! I'm sure the best brother in the world is no match for two shoddy parents."

Sans smiled back, and it was a happy sort of smile, but it looked like there might have been tears in his eyes. He brought Papyrus into a hug before he could confirm it, though.

"heh... thanks, paps. you're the sweetest seven-year-old on this side of the ruins, i swear."

Papyrus hugged him back, and stopped asking about their parents after that.

School never stopped being different from then on, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know i'm bad at expressing things in writing so if you got a question just ask
> 
> also, i'm sorry for the super long wait- i started working on another undertale project with a bunch of other people and it's a lot more work than i was expecting lol. i am also sorry that it's super short and kind of sub-par in the writing area.


	3. Core

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy america day except im pretty sure it's not america day for most people anymore but who cares i finished this chapter have fun it's super crappy im sorry (i think i switched tenses at some point)
> 
> i wish i was better at "painting a picture with my words" but alas you all have to live with some vague nonsense that probably pretty boring to read.

Papyrus’s class was going on a school trip to the Core, which was pretty neat, he guessed. Everyone was excited for some reason. He doesn’t really understand why. It’s large and it makes noise and everyone keeps on complaining about the heat, which is annoying.

(He is, of course, lucky as a skeleton monster to be lacking skin. Makes it harder to notice temperature.)

So it is a bunch of excitable twelve year olds that arrive to the Core, where they are greeted by one of the engineers that is acting as a tour guide.

“Hello,” they say with a grin, and they are wearing a lab coat and an ID badge like all proper scientists do. Papyrus thinks that the reason they do not mind wearing layers is because they are also a skeleton.

“Hello,” choruses the class, and everyone is bouncing and chattering even as they say it and _god_ he doesn’t know why he’s so frustrated with them. He stays stubbornly silent and glares at the ground.

“Today, we will be going on a trip through the device that powers the Underground. I will be showing you how it is protected from humans, all the nooks and crannies that a regular tourist would never notice, and hey, maybe I’ll tell you the secret of how it works.” They grin conspiratorially at the crowd, and the crowd is awed, and Papyrus looks up only to roll his eyes. Somehow.

He has neither eyes nor the weird light things his brother has but he tries anyway.

Despite himself, the engineer had him interested.

They are told to call them Mx. Julian, and they ended up being the _best._

They showed them the puzzles and told them how they were put together and how to solve them and sure, Papyrus wouldn’t mind trying to solve them himself, but he didn’t think the teacher would let him and either way it was still cool. Then Mx. Julian told them how the Core converted the geothermal energy from the lava into _magic_ and _electricity_ and how could that not be amazing??

He kept on asking Mx. Julian questions, and in between answers and explanations the other kids kept ribbing (heh) on him for being a _teacher’s pet_ and _suck up_ and _nerd._

“Do all skeletons look so much alike?” one of them said. “I bet they’re actually your _mom_ and they abandoned you at birth.”

“Ha, yeah,” the kid’s friend said. “No one would want such an ugly kid. Though I bet looking at you would’ve been more like looking into a _mirror._ ”

Papyrus ignored them. He’s twelve, he’s pretty grown up and mature (he’s even taller than his brother now) so he knows that they’re just trying to get a reaction out of him. Plus, he’s become more and more certain over the years that once they stop bugging him they’ll realize their mistakes and then they’ll all become friends and everything will be great. He knows that they’re not evil, they just need to complete their character arcs.

(A character arc is a term he learned from watching human movies and reading fanfiction on the Undernet. Pretty much everybody has them or else it’s not a good story.)

The thing is though, they _do_ kind of have a point. This time, at least. He and Mx. Julian have an uncanny resemblance and any other time he might actually start to believe that they really _could_ be one of his parents.

Except Mx. Julian isn’t old enough. They’re probably five or six years older than his brother at most, so unless Sans adopted him or something then it’s not possible.

Papyrus was glued to their side by the end of the tour, which ensured both that he heard everything they said and the other kids wouldn’t bother him for the time being. Before boarding the bus, Mx. Julian put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“Hey, Papyrus, is it?” they said. Papyrus nodded. “I noticed that you were pretty into all that talk about puzzles and the Core back there. You interested in becoming an engineer?”

He nodded eagerly. Everything here was _so cool_ and Mx. Julian was _so cool_ how could he say no?

They smiled at him and pulled something from their pocket. “Well, anytime you wanna come back and ask more questions I’ll be here. Here’s my card, you can email me when you can’t visit yourself, alright?”

Papyrus got a new card in his inventory and later, when he was on the bus and his teacher finished glaring at Mx. Julian (who held their hands up in surrender), he took it out and looked at it.

The name read _Chiller Julian_ and it had fancy things like their position and where they worked and also their _email_ printed on it.

(His teacher also took it from him and inspected it thoroughly before she grudgingly handed it back. Papyrus doesn’t understand why. It’s just a _card_ and it’s not like Mx. Julian is one of those strangers they were all warned about.)

When he got home, he told Sans all about the field trip and the things they learned and also how cool and nice Mx. Julian themself was. The card was arguably the best part about this, so he saved it for last.

When Sans got a hold of it his face became blank. He still had a smile, but he always smiled, so it didn’t mean much, but Papyrus has lived with him his entire life and he knows when his brother is hiding emotions. Which is, admittedly, most of the time, but still.

Sans handed it back to him a second later, faking happiness but not faking the excitement for him, because his brother is always excited for Papyrus.

“so, you wanna be an engineer, huh?” he asked.

“Yeah!” Papyrus answered. “They invent stuff and figure out how things work and they solve puzzles and stuff and it’s so great!”

“heh, yeah,” his brother said, “sure sounds like it. guess our family’s just destined to be chock full of super smart scientists.”

Papyrus almost asked if Chiller Julian was related to him in some way, if they really were somehow his parent. He knew that look on his brother’s face meant something. Sans must have recognized their name from somewhere. He could ask now, and if his brother lied he would at least know, and he’d have some more answers about his family—even if it was just that one of the only other skeletons he’s met wasn’t related to him.

Instead, Papyrus left the conversation there, they had dinner together and then he went to bed dreaming about how he’ll write the first email to Mx. Julian and what they’ll talk about the next time they meet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in case you havent guessed chiller julian was the person sans got funky with when he was a teenager and they are also actually someone else's oc.
> 
> EDIT: ooookay voting's off. i wasn't expecting anybody to actually vote so i got a nice little surprise.
> 
> the next chapter's coming. at some point. so far it's complete trash. prepare to be disappointed.


End file.
